Suicide Bomber Targets NATO Forces in Afghanistan

A Taliban suicide bomber killed three NATO forces on a foot patrol in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday in an attack that also wounded a US soldier and two Afghan troops, NATO said in a statement.

The statement did not specify the nationalities of those who were killed. The Taliban claimed the attack, which took place near Charakar, the provincial capital of the Parwan province, AP reported.

“My thoughts and prayers, along with those of all of the 41-contributing Resolute Support nations, are with the families and friends of our fallen and wounded service members, and our injured Afghan brothers and their families,” said US Army Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. “Their sacrifice will endure in both our hearts and history, and further strengthen our resolve.”

NATO formally concluded its combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014, but some 16,000 US and other NATO soldiers are providing support and training to Afghan troops and carrying out counterterrorism missions.

Last month, the Taliban struck a NATO convoy with a suicide car bomb in the eastern Logar province. The attack killed two civilians and damaged a NATO vehicle.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, the Taliban attacked a newly constructed district headquarters in the southern Uruzgan province early Saturday, killing four Afghan soldiers, according to Mohammad Maruf Ahmadzai, the provincial police chief. He said nine Taliban fighters were killed in the ensuing gun battle. The Taliban claimed the attack and said they captured soldiers alive.

Both the Taliban and a local affiliate of the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group regularly target Afghan security forces. The IS affiliate has also carried out several attacks targeting the country’s Shia minority. On Sunday, IS claimed a suicide attack two days earlier on a mosque in the city of Gardez, south of Kabul. The attack killed at least 29 people and wounded another 81.